Becoming Reality
by garciprent
Summary: Follow on to "She always had her dreams". Will Emily's dreams come true?
1. Chapter 1

Becoming reality

**Author's note: This is a follow on to "She always had her dreams". Please let me know what you think! Without feedback I've got nothing to guide me & if it's rubbish & you don't tell me, then I'm afraid I'll just keep writing rubbish. If anyone has any tips on how I can improve I would be extremely grateful :-)**

**I don't own Criminal Minds**

It was just after 11 am & Emily Prentiss had only just showered. She loved Saturday's off! After a tough week such as the one just gone, she considered it absolute bliss not to set the alarm, & to get dressed only when she felt like it. She ambled into the living room, towel drying her hair as she went.

A smile kept appearing as she allowed her mind to drift between those blissful ongoing dreams where she was part of the Hotchner family, & the week before last when she went out for ice-cream with Hotch & Jack. They'd had such a lovely time & Emily was eager to repeat it! She wasn't quite brave enough to invite herself along to one of their father-son outings, or even to invite them out somewhere. As much as she'd enjoyed it, she was pretty certain Hotch would think it inappropriate to become a regular occurence.

Joining them for ice-cream had made her dreams even more wonderful! Seeing Hotch interact with Jack was a far cry from when he was dealing with the BAU team. He was much more affectionate & joyful around his son, who it was obvious he absolutely adored! This carried over into her dreams, and whenever she would allow herself to drift off, she would find an even more loving image of Hotch than the one she dreamed of before.

The doorbell pulled her from her daydream. When she was away on cases, any parcels were delivered to her neighbours & they would always return them very promptly. So it was no surprise that someone was now at her door. What was surprising was who was actually there!...

...Hotch & Jack! She opened the door with a grin that quickly faded when she realised, here she stood with wringing wet hair, wearing an old scruffy pair of jeans & a top she'd just thrown on for comfort. Hotch could see the horror in her face so he quickly tried to put her at ease "I'm sorry, we should have called first!" he said with an apologetic smile.

"No, no!" she replied, the shock now fading, "Come on in. I just er...wasn't expecting you."

"Like I say, we should have called first."

"Oh, no. I didn't mean it like..." she smacked her hand to her forehead in frustration as she realised she was making it worse, "...honestly it's fine! Please come in."

"You sure?"

Jack looked as though he would burst! He was clearly eager to see Emily. "As long as you don't mind my weekend attire" she smirked gesturing towards her relaxed state.

Hotch smiled back, "I really don't know why you seem so worried. You look fine to me."

Emily hoped the shock of a compliment from Hotch about her appearance didn't show in her face. "Well to be honest, it's nice to see you don't live in your suit!" she joked as she pulled the door open wider to let them in.

Jack tugged on Hotch's t-shirt and said, "Daddy, can I ask her?"

"You can ask her but she might just want to relax today."

The little boy looked slightly disappointed at the thought of Emily not wanting to join them. "Me & Daddy are going to the park & we brought a picnic, would you like to come? Pllleeeeeaaaasssee?"

"Jack it's not nice to beg!" Hotch raised his eyes towards Emily, "But we would love it if you would join us?"

Emily couldn't help but break out in a grin, "I'd love to!" She ruffled Jack's hair as he bounced on his tip-toes in excitement, "If I could just have 10 minutes to get myself ready?"

"Sure!" Hotch said a little more enthusiastically than Emily expected.

"Great! Help yourselves to drinks & I'll be out in a minute." She said as she ran into her room to get ready. As soon as her door was closed behind her she broke into a little dance of excitement, and then composed herself & got ready.

She emerged 10 minutes later, as promised, with dry hair & more suitable clothes for being seen outdoors. Hotch & Jack were sat on the sofa in a loose attempt at a game of eye-spy when she came back into the room. "Just let me grab some stuff for the picnic & I'll be good to go!" she said as she headed towards the kitchen. Hotch shouted through, "Oh, you don't need to bring anything! We brought lots of food incase it was a yes." Her heart fluttered at his words. This meant she wasn't just an afterthought, they had planned on asking her all along! "You sure?" she shouted back, "I don't want to steal your food!"

"Emily, please! We disturbed your peaceful morning, the least we can do is feed you!"

"Ok, well it looks like I'm ready then." At these words Jack was up on his feet in an instant & proceeded to pull Hotch up from the sofa under the impression this would get them to the park faster. Emily couldn't help but smile at the little boy's enthusiasm. Jack eagerly led the adults out of the apartment, clearly excited about their trip.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Jack had kept the car alive with busy excited chatter on their way to the park. Once Hotch pulled the car to a stop, the little boy had undone his seatbelt and climbed out of his seat waiting until his dad came round to open the car door. No doubt if the car was not equipped with child locks he would have emerged from the car too. Hotch opened the door for his son and the little boy shot out of the car as quick as he could. Hotch grabbed him before he got too far, "Jack, calm down! You need to watch out here, there are cars about." Jack looked down at the ground solemnly before taking hold of his father's hand. He looked around frantically before spotting Emily just emerging from the other side of the car. He grinned and to Emily's surprise grabbed her hand too.

Anyone who didn't know any better would think they were a family. They each seemed so comfortable, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to them. As they crossed the carpark towards the grassy area, Jack looked up at his dad and smiled. He said in a not so subtle whisper, "Daddy, I'm _really_ glad Emmy could come today!" Realising Emily would have had no problem hearing this, Hotch replied at normal volume, "Me too Buddy!"

Seeing that they were now off the carpark and away from danger of cars, Hotch let go of Jack's hand. The little boy tried to run as he pulled Emily towards the park, "Come on Emmy! Let's go!" A surprised Emily lurched forward as she was being dragged by the young boy. "Jack!" The little boy turned quickly to see his dad giving him a frown as he said, "Be gentle! Emily's not some rag doll you can pull about." He approached his son and bent down to his level as he adjusted the little boy's jacket collar. He said just above a whisper, "I know you're excited that Emily's come to the park with us, but you need to calm down. If you pull her about like that she won't want to come again." The look of panic on Jack's face at the thought of Emily not joining them on future outings told Hotch he'd got his point across. Jack looked down at his feet and mumbled "Sorry Daddy." Hotch placed a kiss on Jack's forehead and said, "I think there's someone else you need to apologise to, don't you?" Jack turned to look up at Emily with his big brown puppy-dog eyes and said, "Sorry Emmy! Will you come with us again? I promise I won't pull you anymore."

"Jack, I would love to!" she said through a soft smile. Her expression changed to a slight smirk, "How about a race to those swings over there?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, you ready?" The little boy replied with an enthusiastic nod. "GO!" And with that, Jack and Emily ran ahead towards the swings, Emily letting Jack win only slightly.

Hotch looked on and smiled as he carried the bags and blanket to a spot of grass in view of the swings. He loved seeing Emily and Jack interact, and he never tired of seeing Jack's face light up whenever she was around! Before she had joined them for ice-cream almost two weeks ago, he didn't know how great she was around kids. He had been in slight awe of her that night, the way she spoke to Jack so that he felt so included and important. The little boy had great respect for Emily. And now here was Emily, the FBI Agent and ambassador's daughter, pushing Jack on the swing while singing a song about honey-bees.

Hotch settled down on the blanket and started taking the tubs of food from the bags. A slightly out of puff Emily walked toward Hotch on the blanket as he watched Jack on the slide. As soon as Emily had sat down and was facing the park once again, Jack waved enthusiastically. Emily returned the wave with a grin. She could feel Hotch's eyes on her. She turned toward him and smiled, "What?"

"You're great with him!"

"Hotch, he's an amazing kid, he makes it easy!"

"Although I totally agree with you, not everyone is as good with him as you are." Emily felt herself blush slightly at the compliment. Seeing that he'd probably said too much, Hotch turned his attention back to the food, "Want some lunch?" He pulled out a plastic plate and handed it to Emily. "We've got salad, sandwiches, chicken, pizza, and sausage rolls."

"Thank you for this Hotch!" Emily replied as she took a drumstick. "Think we should let him play or do you think he'll want food?" she said nodding towards Jack.

"Oh, he'll come over when he gets hungry." Just as Hotch said this, Jack came bounding over, eyes widening as he saw the food his dad had prepared.

After they'd all eaten while laughing at the ducks that waddled past, Hotch stood from the blanket, "Who wants ice-cream?" Jack jumped to his feet and waved his hand in the air, "ME! ME!"

"Emily, I don't know if Jack _really _wants ice-cream. What do you think?" Hotch said with a smirk.

"Oh I don't know. Hey Mr Jack, you don't really want ice-cream do you?"

Jack could see the smile in her eyes as she said this, so he let out a giggle and said, "You and Daddy are silly." Then he turned to his father and said, "I do want ice-cream please Daddy. And I ated all my lunch, even the salad!"

"What do you think Emily?"

"Well it is the law that when you eat all your lunch, _especially salad, _you get to have ice-cream!"

"Ok well that settles it then! Well done buddy, you did real good eating all that. Come on, let's go get you an ice-cream."

"Daddy, can I stay here with Emmy?" Hotch looked at Emily to make sure that was ok with her. She nodded in response, so Hotch told Jack to be good, and then made his way across the park to get ice-creams.

While waiting for Hotch to return, Emily and Jack chatted, mainly about how Jack was getting on at school and what he wanted to do when he grew up. It was obvious that he adored his father as he told Emily he wanted to "Catch the bad guys like Daddy does!" When the little boy had gone quiet Emily said, "Hey Jack, thank you for inviting me to the park. It was really nice of you!" Jack grinned and replied, "That's ok Emmy! It was Daddy's idea and I'm really glad you could come!" As she took in what Jack had said, Emily's heart leapt as she realised it was Hotch that had thought to invite her. When they had gone for ice-cream previously, as much as she had enjoyed it, she was very aware that it was Jack who had put the idea into his father's head. So this new piece of information had done wonders for Emily, making her realise that she was in Hotch's thoughts (however innocently) away from the office.

She realised she was daydreaming when she suddenly felt Jack's arms envelope her in a hug as he lay his head against her shoulder and said "I love you Emmy!" Despite being taken aback by his declaration, she returned the hug just as tightly and replied, "I love you too Jack."

Just as Jack broke the hug, a dog bounded over to the pair, wagging it's tail and sniffing around Jack for fuss. As Jack and Emily started stroking the dog after realising it was friendly, an out of breath woman came running over, "Ziggy get down!" then turning to Emily she said, "I'm so sorry! He just loves children." Before Emily could open her mouth Jack replied with a bright smile, "It's ok, we like dogs don't we!" The woman smiled back and said "What a polite little boy!" then turning to Emily she said, "Your son is very well-mannered!"

"Oh, he's not..."

Just then Hotch returned, cutting off Emily's response. The dog owner realised Hotch must have wondered who she was, so she turned to him and said, "I was just telling your wife what a very polite young boy you have."

"Thank you." Hotch said through a smile. And with that the woman called her dog and left them to enjoy their ice-creams.

Emily smiled inside at the fact that Hotch didn't correct the woman for thinking they were married. As Hotch handed out the ice-creams it occured to Emily how much she loved it when people mistook them for an actual family.

When the 'family' had finished their ice-creams, Jack snuggled into Emily's side and put his arms around her waist and closed his eyes. Hotch looked on and said just above a whisper, "I think somebody's tired." Jack heard this and said through a huge yawn, "I'm not tired Daddy, I'm just comfy." Hotch chuckled and said, "Is that so?" The little boy just nodded as he snuggled closer into Emily, all the time with his eyes closed.

After a few moments of quiet (a peaceful kind rather than an awkward one), Hotch started packing up the plates and things from lunch. He turned to Emily and said, "You ok if we make a move?"

"Sure." Then eyeing the sleeping child on her lap she whispered to Hotch so as not to wake Jack, "How do you wanna do this?"

"I'll take him. Once he's out, he's out good."

With that Hotch leaned forward and took Jack gently from Emily. "I'm sorry, would you mind grabbing the bags?" he said over his shoulder to her.

"Not at all."

On their way back across the park, Emily took the time to look around at all the families who were enjoying the bright afternoon. As she did, she couldn't help but feel as though she fitted right in with her little 'family'.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

**A/n: Sorry for not updating this one in a while, I'm kind of engrossed in writing "A growing family" and even that I'm not keeping up with very well. Not sure which one you lot prefer to read, but from a writing point of view I find my other story keeps calling to me. Anyway, enjoy!**

As Emily woke to the alarm blaring on this rather miserable Monday morning, she rolled over to find herself alone. In the split second between asleep and awake, she was confused to find that was the case. But then her brain caught up and she realised she was in the real world again, rather than the one she shared with Hotch in her dreams. Usually this realisation made her utterly depressed, but today was different. Today she greeted the real world with a smile. That smile was the result of a Saturday afternoon spent with two of her favourite people.

It might not sound like much to the average person, but when you spend so many hours dreaming about someone, any attention that someone might show you makes the world such a wonderful place! This is what Emily found as she got ready for work. On a normal Monday she would be sulking around as she got ready. Today however, she was flitting around her apartment, whistling as she went.

As she walked into the FBI building, she noticed people staring at her in confusion, and the occasional smile from a stranger. And then she realised she was sporting the same silly grin that she'd woken up with. Upon realising this, she decided not to change it, and kept grinning as she walked off the elevator onto the sixth floor.

As she was about to pull open the door leading to the bullpen where her desk was situated, she heard a bright, cheery voice behind her, "Good morning sunbeam! What's with the Cheshire Cat grin?" Emily turned to see Penelope Garcia, files in one arm and the all important first coffee of the day in the other hand. "Nothing" Emily replied with a shrug, "Can't a girl smile if she feels like it?"

"Nu-Uh! Don't 'Nothing' me Missy!" Garcia said with a smile of her own. Then lowering her voice she asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows, "Did you have an _interesting_ weekend?" Emily couldn't help but laugh at her friend and said, "Garcia, it's not what you think! I had a lovely weekend and just feel very...I don't know...bright this morning. It's not a crime is it?" she asked, still smiling.

"Oh no my sweet, it's not a crime. But not telling me what happened on your 'lovely' weekend is, now spill!"

Emily was wondering how much to tell Garcia when the door to the bullpen opened, and out walked Hotch. "Oh, morning Emily, Garcia." he said through a smile and turned his attention back to Emily, "Jack made this for you." he handed her a card, "He had such a wonderful time on Saturday, well...we both did! He wouldn't stop talking about you. Thank you!" Before she could say anything he made his way back into the bullpen.

Emily looked up from the card to see an wide-eyed Garcia, grinning from ear to ear. "I knew it! You have feelings for the boss man!"

"Garcia!" Emily said as she pulled her away from the rush-hour foot traffic. "Don't make a big deal out of this ok? They invited me to the park with them," a smile spread across her face as she looked down at the floor, "It was nice!"

Garcia put her hand to her chest and her grin changed into a subtle smile, "Oh Pumpkin I take that back!"

Emily looked puzzled towards her, "What?"

"Em, you're _in love_ with Hotch!"

"Wha...Garcia?"

"No, no my sweet it wasn't a question! You didn't see the look on your face when you told me about your weekend." By now Garcia was back to her full blown grin and talking very quickly, "You're in love! Oh Sweetie this is so exciting. I can see it now, you in a beautiful white dress, me and Jayje following you down the aisle as you walk towards..."

"Garcia!"

"You're right Sweetie, what was I thinking," she said with a chuckle, "White, ha!"

"Garcia, seriously! You are making far too much of this!" Emily rolled her eyes and said in a hushed voice, "I have a little crush, yeah and we had a nice weekend."

"Em, I love you with all my heart, but what you have is no crush! Honestly, the way your eyes lit up when you talked about your weekend, the way you smiled when he handed you that card. Honey, you're smitten!"

Emily knew there was no way she was going to win this arguement. She sighed, "Can we...?" she jerked her head towards Garcia's office. Garcia caught on and led the way. Once the two were inside and the door was closed behind them, Emily took a seat next to her eager friend and looked her in the eye, "Pen, I admit I have feelings for Hotch..." this earned a squeal from the over-excited computer analyst, "...But I am not 'in love' with him!"

It seemed that Garcia had not heard anything past 'feelings for Hotch' as she continued to look at Emily with an expression of glee. "Oh Em," she said grabbing the brunette's hands and bouncing them up and down, "We can double date! You and Hotch, me and Kevin, it will be wonderful!"

"Garcia, we're not dating. I don't think Hotch even considers me in that way at all!"

A glint appeared in Garcia's eye and Emily hadn't failed to notice. "What?"

"A few months ago, remember when you had a date with Mark, the one you met in the coffee shop?"

"Yeah?" Emily said with a roll of her eyes as she remembered that awful evening.

"Well, you rushed out of work that night to go meet him."

"Yeah? What's your point Pen?"

Garcia's face lit up even more as she said, "Well, Hotch saw you leaving quickly and asked what your rush was to get home. I told him about your date and..." she put her hand on her chest and continued "...You should have seen his face drop! He was totally disappointed. My _point,_ my sweet, is that he _does_ consider you in that way, I have seen the evidence for myself!"

"I can't deny how I would love for him to see me as more than just a friend and colleague..."

Garcia looked crushed, "Oh, I sense a 'but'."

"...But, I don't want to get my hopes up just to have them ripped to shreds!"

The grin returned to Garcia's face, "Em, he invited you out with him and Jack. That tells me your hopes should most definitely reside on high! Oh I can just picture what a cute little family you would make!"

"I already have." As soon as she'd said it, she wondered why the words had left her mouth. Garcia looked at her with a smirk and said, "Already have what?"

"Nothing!" Emily replied quickly with a shake of the head.

"Oh no Missy, you are not due to start work for another 7 minutes. You are going to stay here until I get the full meaning of what you just said. Now spill!"

Emily sighed and looked up at the ceiling "I already have pictured us as a family." She felt stupid for saying it out loud but Garcia was thrilled.

"How do you mean?" she said with a smile.

"I've been having these amazing dreams for a while now."

"Oh Em, what kind of dreams? The sweet adorable kind, or the adults only kind?"

"Ah, definitely the sweet adorable kind!" she said with a giggle.

"You have to tell me more! Em, you are seriously giving me the best start to a week I could ever have hoped for, but I need details!"

Emily raised her eyes to the ceiling again and said, "I feel so silly saying it out loud! Don't judge me for it ok?"

"Oh Miss Prentiss, I cannot believe you think I would be anything other than thrilled at what you have to say!"

Emily sighed again before she began, "Ok. Well a few weeks ago I had a dream that Hotch asked me out, and so we went out on a date. It was a lovely romantic dinner and we had a wonderful time! We got on really well and it was great. Then, obviously I woke up and things in the real world were so...professional. It sucked!" She paused as a grin found its way across her face, "Then the next night the dream carried on. This time we were officially a couple and everyone at work was well aware of the fact that we were together."

Garcia seemed so enthralled in Emily's words, she knew she would have to complete her story before she was due to start work, or else face the wrath of the fiery red head. Garcia spurred her on as she rolled a hand in the air, "And...?"

"And the next night it carried on too. Each dream is further along in our relationship than the last, and it feels so real!"

"So where are you at this point in your dream?" Garcia asked with her eyes fixed to Emily's and her smile wide as she listened.

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Em, seriously!" Garcia said as she sat bolt upright and glared at her friend.

"Ok, sorry! I've just...never told anyone this and, you know me...I'm not your average 'Girly girl'! I don't have thoughts and dreams like this Pen. I just guess I feel a little silly."

"Sweetie!" she said grabbing Emily's hands, "This is not silly! Now I promise not to laugh ok? Just tell me, please!"

"Ok." Emily said hesitantly, "Well at this point in time we're married and expecting our first baby."

Garcia slumped back into her seat with her hand on her chest as if that was exactly what she longed to hear. "Oh Em, I think your dream could be coming true! Hotch just asked you completely out of the blue to join him and Jack at the park...It's happening Sweetie!"

Emily started to pick at her nails as she looked guiltily at the floor. Garcia picked up on this, "What?"

Emily looked up warily to answer, "Now don't be mad I didn't tell you ok?"

"Honey please! You kept these dreams from me for all this time, do I look mad to you?"

"Well, no." Emily paused and swept some fallen hair behind her ear, "This wasn't our first outing."

Garcia's eyes widened dramatically and her smile was huge. "How did I miss this? When was this? Where did you go?"

Emily picked the last question, "We went out for ice-cream. Jessica dropped off Jack at the office, and Jack asked if I could join them for ice-cream. It was Jack who invited me, not Hotch."

"But Em, Hotch could have said no and that he wanted to spend some time with Jack alone, but he didn't! He wanted you there."

After a moment's silence Garcia piped up, "Can I ask you something?"

"You're suddenly asking permission?" Emily asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Who asked you to the park, Hotch or Jack?"

A smile crossed Emily's face as she remembered Jack's words, that it was his father's idea to ask her. "Hotch."

"There you go! Sweetie, why are you so reluctant to see that Hotch wants to spend time with you, out of his own choice?"

Emily shrugged, "I guess I don't want to read into things that aren't there and pin my hopes on unrealities."

"But you're refusing to read into things that _are_ there! Em, seriously you are breaking my heart here."

Emily eyed the clock as she stood, "I have to go start work. Thanks for the chat Pen." She pulled Garcia into a hug. Garcia looked her in the eye as they pulled apart, "You free for lunch today?"

"Sure."

"Ok, it's a date. And I'm buying." Then she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows, "And you can let me know how this morning went."

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed that one. Garcia is so much fun to write! I'm not entirely sure where this story is heading, haven't got an ending or goal in mind. Shoulda' thought about that first :/ If any of you have any ideas as to what you would like, please PM them to me. If you put them in a review other readers can see them and then if I do use it they'll know what's coming, so I'd prefer any ideas sent by PM please. If you've got no ideas and just want to let me know what you think I would LOVE to hear it!**


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